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America’s Top Winter Game Which team will hold up the Super Bowl? The Vince Lombardi Trophy this year is still an open question (Photo AP Images) On February 6, 2011 the Cowboys Stadium in Arling- but that changed in 1987 when my hometown team ton, Texas will host the XLV Super Bowl in American the New York Giants made it to the Super Bowl. I history. told my wife that year that the kids were on their own and to only come and get me if they were hurt. I had Zoom asked John Gallo, a great American football no voice for 3 days after that game because I yelled fan, what the game means to him. On pages 2-3 John so much during the game and had similar results in shares his thoughts on the Super Bowl. 1991, 2000 and 2008 when the Giants were in the Super Bowl. In other years, the party is part foot- The Super Bowl has become a large presence on the ball and part eating. In keeping with tradition, I bring American social scene. What does it mean to me? I donuts and pastries as part of the extensive dessert have been lucky, as a friend of mine has hosted a Su- offering at the party. per Bowl party every year since 1984. Back then my daughters were 6, 3 and 1 year of age and the Super Bowl was a combination of watching a football game Useful link: and feeding or changing a child. I hate to admit it, http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Football_(American) In this issue: Super Bowl Zoom in on America On a Super Bowl Tour (clockwise from the top left): India- napolis Colts against the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore on January 13, 2007; The Indianapolis Colts defense looks on against the New England Patriots during the AFC Championship football game; India- napolis Colts tight end Dallas Clark turns up field after catching a pass against the New England Patriots; The Vince Lombardi Trophy; the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima is reenacted before the singing of the national anthem prior to the Super Bowl XLI football game; tickets for Super Bowl XLI are pictured in Miami on January 25, 2007 (Photos AP Images) When It Is Played Houston as well as cities which had NFL teams such as New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Play began The Super Bowl has become a unique American ex- in 1960. Things were tough in the early days as the perience. Played in the depth of winter, it gives people league did not catch on right away. At times payrolls an excuse to go out and have a party. The amount of were barely met and attendance was low. The style food eaten on Super Bowl Sunday is second only to of play in the new AFL was more exciting than the Thanksgiving. The next Super Bowl, the champion- old NFL and as a result, the new league was able ship of the professional American Football league, to get a television contract from NBC. This enabled will be played on February 6, 2011 in Arlington Texas, the league to show off its product to fans across the just outside Dallas. country and more importantly enabled the league to sign players out of college away from the old league. A Little History By 1966 it became apparent that the AFL was here to stay but still was not strong enough to overtake How did the Super Bowl come to be such a major the old NFL. Thus talks to merge the two leagues event? Our story starts in the late 1950s when the Na- started and an agreement was reached in 1966 to tional Football League (NFL) was growing in popular- fully merge in 1970 and to play a championship game ity. While baseball continued to be the national game, between the 2 league winners starting in 1967. football’s popularity grew as a result of increased ex- posure on television. In 1959 a group of men (sorry The Origins of the Name ladies), generally from places which did not have foot- ball teams, applied to join the existing 16 teams of the So began what we now know as the Super Bowl. NFL. The league turned them down. These vision- Back in 1967 though, the name of this game was ary men then decided to take a risk and form a new the National Football League – American Football league called the American Football League (AFL). League Championship Game. This name was very Franchises were established in cities which had no cumbersome. One of the founders of the AFL was teams such as Boston, Buffalo, Oakland, Denver and Lamar Hunt. One day he saw his child playing with a Zoom page 2 very bouncy ball called a Super Ball. Mr. Hunt came up with the idea to call the new championship game The Super Bowl. As they say, the rest is history. Watched by Every Third American Over these past 40 years or so football has grown tremendously in popularity, and interest in The Super Bowl has grown accordingly. The 2010 game was viewed by about 106 million Americans, the most of any television show in history. Since the network can promise advertisers a very large audience, they can charge a high price and in 2010 the cost was $3 mil- lion for 30 seconds of time on The Super Bowl. For the halftime show, artists such as Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones have per- formed. About $80 million was wagered in Las Vegas on the 2010 Super Bowl. As a side note, there is a legend, disputed by some people, that water works’ personnel in many cities can detect a drop in wa- ter pressure during Super Bowl halftime when many people flush toilets at nearly the same time. Click to Listen Text John Gallo (top): Dallas Clark (bottom): Dolphin Stadiumin Miami (Photos AP Images) Football Terms and Rules Like in every team sport, it needs some time and time. If scores are tied, the so called sudden-death watching and/or playing to become familiar with the overtime of 15 minutes is added. The teams are en- rules of American football. The words below followed titled to three time-outs. by a short description of the game might help those who have not been very familiar with the game yet: The aim of the game is to advance the ball towards, and finally to the opposition’s end zone for which a a down - a chance for a team to advance the ball, touchdown is scored. The players run until the ball ending when the ball carrier is tackled or the ball be- is tackled or throw the ball down the field to a team comes out of play. A team must advance at least ten mate. yards in a series of four downs in order to keep pos- session The most fundamental part of the game are downs. The offensive team moves the ball forward and has to tackle - stop the forward progress of the ball car- 4 downs to gain ten yards. If the team manages to rier by forcing them to the ground advance at least 10 yards within the four downs, an- other first down is earned with four more chances to to punt the ball - 1. (of an offensive team) turn pos- go a further 10 yards. If the team is not successful session over to the defensive team by punting the in moving 10 yards within four downs, possession is ball after failing to make a first down surrendered. 2. kick the ball after it is dropped from the hands and before it reaches the ground The most important in scoring apart from 6-point touchdowns are field goals that earn the team three a touchdown - a six-point score made by carrying or points. An extra point can be earned by kicking the passing the ball into the end zone of the opposing ball through the uprights after a touchdown. If the side team takes the ball again into the end zone, another (from the New Oxford American Dictionary) two points are gained. If the offensive team is tack- led with the ball in their own end zone, the defensive There are two teams of 11 players each. The game team earns two points. lasts four 15-minute quarters and a 12-minute half- Zoom page 3 Activity Page Win a Prize! Exercise 1 The texts below come from America.gov article featuring the only JANUARY 2011 CONTEST player of South Asian descent in the NFL today, Brandon Chillar of Green Bay Pack- ers. Some words have been removed. Work in pairs. While you are reading the text In 2010 Super Bowl had: about the footballer, the other student should read about the team. Fill in the blanks 1. over 100 million viewers in your text with one appropriate word. Then check your answers with the key or the 2. over 200 million viewers original article. Try to remember some facts from your text. Then tell the other student 3. almost 300 million viewers about your text and listen to his or her account. Ask and answer questions. Send the answer Brandon Chillar - an Indian-American Player (with your home address) to: “The Indian side of my family is very proud of what I’m doing,” he [Brandon Chillar] [email protected] commented in a 2009 .(1). with the sports network ESPN. Chillar, who is 1.9 me- ters, 108 .(2).

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